An experienced natural history and botanical illustrator, Lizzie’s work appears in books and magazines around the world, on postage stamps and mugs. She lives very happily in Hay on Wye, and works her garden studio surrounded by plants and birds.
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If you’re interested in finding out what I’m working on at the moment, follow my blog or find me on instagram.
For details of Lizzie’s workshops, exhibitions, and information about greetings cards and ordering prints, click on the links.
Below are some links to Lizzie’s latest blogs and Instagram posts.
This is the Madagascar periwinkle.
It's really important in cancer treatments and a really pretty plant to illustrate.
It's one from a series of illustrations I've recently completed of flowers that grow on Montserrat.
#botanicalillustration #botanicalart #sciart #naturalhistoryillustration #naturalscienceillustration #madagascarperiwinkle #cancertreatment #watercolour
New blog out:
https://lizzieharper.co.uk/2022/07/rocky-shore-ecosystem-illustration/
This is all about zonation of species along a rocky shore, and is closely based on what I learned on a Field Studies Council course.
It discusses the different pressures in these zones - waves, saltiness, predation, drying out; and tries to explain why different animals like barnacles, mussels, crabs, and seaweeds live where they do.
Luckily, I was commissioned to do an illustration uniting all of these animals, plants, biological and physical factors. This is the base for the blog.
hope you find it as interesting to learn about as I did!
#rockyshore #ecosystem #halinity #tides #wavesaction #predation #littoral #seaweed #speciesdistribution #habitat #roskyshoreecosystem #shore #shoreline #crustaceans #molluscs #barnacles #seasnails #tolerance #penandink #monochrome #penandline #linedrawing #blackandwhite #stippling #naturalhsitoryillustration #naturalscienceillustration #sciart
The Field Studies Council
This is a newly completed commission of the Orange-tip butterfly Anthocharis cardamines on Cuckoo flower. Cardamine pratensis
The Orange tip is one of the earlies UK butterflies, overwintering as a cocoon. Only the males have the orange wing tips, although both sexes sport the gorgeous greenish mottling on the lower wings.
There's some suggestion that the orange is warning colouration. the caterpillars feed on plants in the mustard family (like the Cuckoo flower or Ladies smock) so they taste pretty noxious.
The cuckoo flower is not only really pretty, but it's also edible, tasting sweet and peppery.
I filmed the whole illustration process and will, at some point, pop it up on my youtube channel.
#butterflies #pieridae #entomologicalart #entomology #entomologicalillustration #sciart #naturalhistoryillustration #naturalscienceillustration #botanicalillustration #ladyssmock #cuckooflower #Orangetip #butterfly #Anthochariscardamines #Cardaminepratensis #cardamine #hostplant #traditional #watercolor #watercolour #notahobby
I'vve just published a speeded up film of me adding colour to a pen and ink illustration on my Youtube channel:
https://youtu.be/juic5XCbjLE
It's not got any narration, so may be more use for those who fancy a calm 20 minutes than those who want an intense tutorial, but it does show how easy it is to transform a pen and ink illustration into full colour by adding watercolour...so long as the ink you've used is waterproof!
The illustration was one of several done for The Hidden Universe by Alexandre Antonelli, which was published last week, and is an excellent book about the importance of biodiversity, and of preserving it.
This illustration shows a hedgehog snuffling about by a woodpile. It's used to suggest that wildlife gardening is not only a good idea, but also is incredibly easy to do. Just don't tidy everything up!
You can see a rotting log pile with ivy, grasses, fungus and nettles growing. Above, there's a Small tortoiseshell butterfly whose caterpillars feed on nettle.
The hedgehog is probably looking for slugs and worms in this damp, dis-regarded corner of the garden.
Creating a wildlife garden is one of many things you can do to try and encourage biodiversity - the book discusses many others too.
#illustration #hedgehog #Erinaceuseuropaeus #wildlifegardening #biodiversity #naturalhistoryillustration #penandink #watercolour #meditativeart #TheHiddenUniverse Ebury Publishing Alexandre Antonelli Penguin Random House
Link to buy the book: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/442840/the-hidden-universe-by-antonelli-alexandre/9781529109160
This is Momordica charantia, another of the series of plants that grow in Montserrat that I'm working on.
This plant was a total joy to illustrate. I LOVE painting and using tendrils in compositions, and the red seeds in the orange flesh were pure joy. I echoed the reds discretely through the illustration, in the junctions of the yellow petals and amongst the darkest shadows.
It's used for cooking - the unripe fruits look like warty cucumbers and are used in stir fries and curries across Asia and South America. The fruits are watery, and taste very bitter. This can be mitigated by soaking them in water. Shoots and leaves can also be used as green vegetables.
At maturity the fruit turns yellow and splits to show orange flesh. Seeds are scarlet, covered in pulp.
This plant has been used medicinally for a long time, in the treatment of coughs, gout, inflamation, and diabetes. Current research suggests its use in the treatment of diabetes shows potential, and needs further rigorous clinical trials.
#monordica #momordicacharantia #bittermelon #bitter #bittergourd #karela #balsampear #botanicalart #botanicalillustration #montserrat #flora
This is the Zouti stinging nettle or the West Indian nettle, Laportea aestuans
It's one if a series I'm doing which is looking at plants of Montserrat. Alas, I've not been sent there to draw, so am working from an assortment of references. Always trickier working from photos and scans of herbarium specimens than from living material, specially when I'm not familiar with the plant in the wild.
This plant is pretty important in ethnobotany - its used to treat rheumatism, joint pain, eczema, and seems to help early stage prostate cancer. It also (very randomly) increases fertility in water snails.
Apologies for not posting much recently - pretty full on deadlines and school holidays approaching means I need to keep my head down and crack on!
Next on the list to illustrate is the prickly pear. At least I'm familiar with that one!
#botanicalillustration #zouti #nettle #westindiannettle #herbalism #ethnobotany #plantportrait #sciart #botanicalart #laportea #Montserrat #notahobby
#illustration #plantidentification
This week's blog is all about how to tell Sedges, Grasses, and Rushes apart.
https://lizzieharper.co.uk/2022/07/sedges-grasses-and-rushes-telling-the-families-apart/
It's based on a recent course I attended, on the famous botanist's rhyme, "Sedges have edges, Rushes are round, & Grasses have knees from their tips to the ground"....along with a wonderful chart by Fiona Gomersall which I've adapted.
Thing is, these glorious monocots are so often overlooked. And they shouldn't be. They really reward a second look. I think they're some of the most beautiful and elegant plants out there. And they are SOOO lovely to illustrate"
So make a cuppa, take 10 minutes, and have a look at my blog as a way to start spending a whole lot more time in the wonderous world of Grasses, Sedges, and Rushes.
#grasses #poaceae #graminaceae #sedges #carex #rushes #truerushes #rush #woodrush #luzula #ligules #stems #nodes #utricles #spikelets #glumes #botanicalillustration #botanicalart #illustration #identification #botany #notahobby #drawinggrass #drawingsedges #drawingrushes #botanical
Recent commission for a packaging company.
They wanted an apple with a half...then decided to go for a slice instead. With some photoshop wizardry I managed to edit it and removed the half, printed out the remaining bits of the apple onto cartridge paper, then add the slice in by hand. Just about got away with it!
There's a whole lot of stippling in this baby, and I think it's worked out OK.
#apple #malus #appleillustration #packagingdesign #botanical #botanicaillustration #stippling #monochrome #black-and-white #penandink #stipple #botanicalart #goingdotty #sciart
Lizzie has many original illustrations for sale.
In all cases, email her on info@lizzieharper.co.uk if you’d like to buy one of these natural history paintings, drawings, or studies.
Below is an illustrated list of all her original work currently on sale, divided into framed and unframed categories, and subject matter.
